Wednesday, December 18, 2013

Wisconsin congressman, a Republican, says his party is made up of knuckle-draggers

December 18

By STEVE KRASKE

The Kansas City Star

Here’s what the right honorables had to say Tuesday:

Duffy

• “We can come across as knuckle-dragging Neanderthals on
occasion.” — Wisconsin Congressman Sean Duffy, a Republican, on MSNBC’s
“Morning Joe.”Don’t blame me; I’m just
repeating what Duffy said. Duffy was complaining about his party’s
sometimes “abrasive tone.” He said his party needs to do more to “reach
out to people in need and let them know how the GOP ideology can help
them.” Duffy is right. Republicans too often allow mean-spiritness to
get in the way of good politics, which is Duffy’s point.
• “It
increases spending by $60 billion over the next two years but promises
to pay for it with cuts over the next 10 [years] — something that we
know Congress never gets back to actually carrying out.” — Florida Sen.
Marco Rubio, a possible GOP contender for the 2016 GOP presidential
nomination.Rubio is probably right. But
politics is outweighing more practical concerns as the Senate gears up
to most likely approve the agreement on Wednesday. The politics: The GOP
got whacked in the polls when it shut down the government this year,
and leaders are determined to avoid that pitfall heading into a midterm
election year. In theory, the party that doesn’t control the White House
picks up a bunch of seats in these off-year elections, and GOP leaders
don’t want to step on that likelihood. So they won’t stop this budget
from passing.
• “We need a good, public debate on this.” —
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to reporters Tuesday where he
expressed a willingness to consider legislation that would rein in the
National Security Agency’s collection powers.The
Senate is trying to navigate between a flurry of judicial rulings on
all sides of the NSA issue. California Sen. Dianne Feinstein said it’s
time for the Supreme Court to weigh in, and that may be where this issue
winds up.
• “Miss Kelly is correct. Santa was a white
person. Does it matter? No, it doesn’t.” — Bill O’Reilly defending Megyn
Kelly’s controversial comments about St. Nick being a white guy.OMG.
Leave it to O’Reilly to stir this silly issue up all over again. Folks,
it doesn’t matter whether Kelly is right or not. It shouldn’t be an
issue to begin with. THAT’S the point.